Machine by Normandie Alleman
28
Bridger
A reception was being heldin the adjacent room and while I waited for her to come out of the back, I nibbled on a variety of strange foods I didn’t recognize.
Finally, when Dynassy came out, I began walking towards her. My eyes locked on hers, and she froze mid-stride. She shook her head, but I had come too far to be put off now.
“Dynassy, I have to talk to you.”
She plastered a smile on her face and looked past me. “Later,” she said under her breath. “My mother is here.”
“The Imperial Resort. Room 1432,” I whispered in her ear, pressing my key card into her hand. “Imperial. 1432. Got it?”
She nodded and slipped away without a word, and I was left standing there, feeling like a fool.
Unsure if she would come looking for me at my hotel, I called my driver and slunk back to the dark gray limo outside. During the ride back, I felt more depressed than ever. When the car pulled up at the hotel, I realized I’d been so lost in my dark thoughts that I’d neglected to look around, to see what the city had to offer. Great, I was here in a place I’d never been before, and I was squandering what little time I had available. But even as I chastised myself, I didn’t care.
The only thing that interested me about Milan was that Dynassy was here.
But coming here had been a mistake. I was clearly out of my league. This girl was an international supermodel, and I was just some meathead from nowhere special.
I wasn’t an international billionaire or a sophisticated entrepreneur or a celebrity. I was a simple guy, locked into a seedy business that revolved around women taking off their clothes and doing dirty things to themselves.
It wasn’t glamorous or cosmopolitan. It was crass.
All I wanted was to be with the woman I loved. I didn’t need all the trappings of wealth and fame, but clearly Dynassy did. Our worlds would never come together, and the sooner I accepted that, the better.
I felt like shit the rest of the night. I ran up a big bar bill in my room, ordered a big steak from room service, and finally gave up on Dynassy ever coming by.
I lounged on the couch of my suite, nursing a whiskey and watching the hotel’s tourism channel, which switched back and forth from Italian to English. After seeing it fifty times, I thought I was beginning to pick up some actual Italian. I was repeating the foreign words on the screen, practicing my new language skills, when I heard the key card in the door.
The door opened a crack before it was stopped by the security bar at the top. I’d latched it about an hour ago when I gave up on Dynassy and decided to call it a night.
“Bridger?” The husky tone of her voice floated in the air, and I had to blink a few times to be sure it wasn’t some alcohol-induced hallucination.
“Dynassy?” I called. Jumping off the couch, I hurried to the door.
“Yes, it’s me. Let me in.” Her voice was insistent.
“Just a minute,” I said, closing the door and unlatching it. Then opening the door again wide, this time ushering her inside. “I didn’t think you were coming.”
“I’ve had parties all night.”
My heart sank. Parties?
“Don’t look at me like that. I’m here for business. I have to see and be seen.”
“That’s fair. Hey, I’m sorry for just showing up like this.”
“It’s okay. I’ve been calling you for days, but you won’t answer.”
“What?” Was she lying? “I haven’t gotten any calls from you. In fact, I’ve texted you and called you, and I haven’t heard a thing from you. What the hell is going on?”
“Bridger, that’s because I had to get rid of my old number and get a new one. Every time we have one of these blowups, the media get hold of my number and my phone will not stop ringing off the hook, so I had to get a new number. I tried to text you from the new one to tell you but you didn’t respond.”
“I didn’t get any texts from you. I don’t think…” But I’d quit looking at my texts once the reporters started sending them to me. I put my phone on silent and had only been using it for data the past few days. Dynassy hadn’t answered me, so it didn’t occur to me that she would have started texting me now.
“I’m sorry, but I did send you one. Things have been so crazy lately. I also sent you an email. I really have been trying. It’s just, my life has been insane ever since this came out, and I had the show… I’ve been traveling, and honestly I’ve been a little confused.”
The anger started to build. “You? You think things have been crazy for you? You’re used to this kind of life, with tabloids and people hounding your every move. I am not.” My voice came out harsher than I’d intended.
“Yeah. Look, Bridger, I’m sorry. My mother can be very manipulative, and she told me we had to get out of this thing. She and her PR people wrote these statements and said that I said all that stuff. Which I didn’t, but I don’t know how to make people understand the way I see you.”
“So you don’t think those things about me?”
“Well, when I first found out, I was mad that you’d lied to me, but I understand how you got to where you are, and I don’t think that makes you a bad guy.”
“You don’t?”
“No, but do I really want to have a boyfriend who watches girls fuck themselves for a living? Not really. I have to admit though, the more I thought about it, the more it made me feel kinda special that you’d seen all those girls at your porn studio, but it wasn’t until you met me that you got your mojo back.”
“It’s true, Dynassy. Not one of them made me hard, then I met you and BAM!”
She giggled. “I know. I think that’s great. Almost like a cosmic sign that we’re meant to be together. Does that sound ridiculous?”
“Not at all,” I said quietly. Because I’d thought the same thing.
“But then there’s the future. I mean, a guy who makes porn isn’t really the kind of person you want to settle down and have babies with. That’s kind of insane, you know?”
“Of course I do.” I could just see me now, dropping the kids off at preschool on the way to the set of Debbie Does Dallas. The other dads would high-five me and the moms would give me looks that killed and probably try to get my kids kicked out of their school. “I know my current profession wouldn’t work for a future with you, but I’m not sure what I can do about that.”
“Well, have you considered selling it?”
“Not really because I don’t know who would be able to buy it. Barvo’s not really in a position to buy me out, and I would hate to set him up with a different partner. I guess that’s a possibility, but a buyer might take a while to find.” I noticed I’d forgotten my manners. “I’m sorry. Come on in and have a seat. Do you want something to drink?”
“You’ve had enough for both of us,” she chastised, “and besides, I have two more fashion shows tomorrow. I can’t get all bloated and puffed up from alcohol.”
I sat back down on the couch and patted the spot beside me. To my relief, she perched there.
I lifted my glass and took another sip. “Don’t be upset. Can you really blame me?”
“No, I’ve felt like drinking every day since you told me about that stupid business of yours. What were you thinking, getting into that?” she pouted.
“I wasn’t thinking. That was the problem. I had nothing in my life I cared about at that time, so the idea of making money…well, that sounded good.”
“As hard as it’s going to be, I can’t stay away from you.”
“That’s good, because I can’t either. I need you in my life, Dynassy.”
“I need you too.”
My heart soared at her words.
She burrowed her way into my arms, forcing me to set down my drink and hold her. I needed the warmth of her body next to mine, and I needed to figure out how to make things permanent with her. Whatever it was, I would do it, even if it meant walking away from Luv Machines altogether.
“I’ve missed this,” she whispered, her cheek against my chest.
“Me too.”
“Can we forget about all that for a few hours?” She raised her hands and tickled the back of my neck as she lifted her lips to mine.
At that moment, all I wanted in the world was to possess her, to make her mine.
“I’ve already forgotten about it.” I cupped her face in my hands and kissed her again.
“About what?” she breathed, getting up and straddling me.
“Exactly.”
She wrapped her legs around my waist and I stood up and carried her to the bedroom, and we pretended the world outside had disappeared.
